EY and Microsoft have launched a blockchain solution for content rights and royalties management. Aiming to streamline the costly and time-consuming processes in entertainment rights and royalties, the solution is first being deployed within gaming with Microsoft and its game publisher partners.

EY and Microsoft designed the solution to serve any industry where intellectual property or assets are licensed to other parties and where the creators are paid royalties based on royalty agreements. Within this value chain – which can include authors, song writers, production houses, developers and more — the intellectual property generates millions of transactions aggregating to billions of dollars per month in royalties to be paid.

The royalty calculations along the value chain are currently mostly manual and generally managed via offline data sources. Read more …

AlipayHK and GCash announced the launch of a cross-border remittance service through their e-wallet platforms, powered by blockchain technology developed by Alipay, the online payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services.

Alipay says it has applied blockchain technology to streamline the remittance process, radically improving the speed of delivery, enhancing transparency of the process and drastically reducing costs while ensuring better security measures when sending money across borders.

This service between GCash and AlipayHK will provide round-the-clock, real-time money transfer between Hong Kong and the Philippines at a competitive exchange rate with much lower transaction fees, which will be further waived during an initial three-month trial period. Read more …

SmartPesa launches ICO for SME credit scoring network

Singapore-based FinTech company SmartPesa has announced the launch of a token sale (ICO) for its new blockchain network SmartPesa Credible, which aims to address the increasing funding gap for SMEs in emerging markets.

According to SmartPesa, 40% of SMEs in emerging markets lack access to credit, creating an annual funding gap of $5.2 trillion. SmartPesa Credible uses blockchain technology to provide credible Know Your Customer (KYC) information, self-declared business data and cash flow statistics on a transparent, distributed and auditable platform. That data can be shared with lenders, insurers and financial services organizations to discover SMEs and provide better products these businesses.

SMEs and merchants manage their own credit and use tokens for data verification and generation services, pledge tokens as loan collateral, and sell tokens to investors using the SmartPesa CryptoATM. This incentivizes business owners to contribute valid data and receive economic benefit from sharing more accurate credit information. Read more …

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